| Sports |
Music for the
brain
Junior suffers from
dyslexia, which means he has difficulty reading and writing. He
has a short concentration span, and prefers to be outdoors because
he is very hyperactive.
By JOSHUA ARLO
"Arrggghh!" I screamed inwardly. "Not again!"
My kid brother was at it again, playing the guitar as if there was
no tomorrow, and singing at the top of his lungs, out of tune. It
sounded like a cat being strangled.
Junior had been at this for two weeks straight and he showed no
signs of letting up.
"Plunk, plonk, klunk, plonk,' the guitar strings twanged.
I stepped onto the veranda and moved towards him, certain that my
presence would make him quieten down. Wrong.
My silhouette moving slowly against the overhead beam of the light
seemed to give him a burst of energy, he launched into a series of
'ting, ting, ting, ting' on the guitar strings.
I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to yank the guitar from him
and wack him with it.
My mother had bought the guitar for Junior on his eighth birthday.
I remember his squeals of delight as he ripped the wrapping paper
off the guitar and started twanging the strings.
Junior suffers from dyslexia, which means he has difficulty
reading and writing. He has a short concentration span, and
prefers to be outdoors because he is very hyperactive.
A bright, cheery kid, he sometimes drove us up the wall with his
antics.
Mum had sent him to a special school - Callan Services for the
disabled - but even though he was occupied, he proved to be
disruptive and probably scared the other younger kids with his
boundless energy and enthusiasm.
Although dyslexic, Junior had an uncanny ability to remember
peoples faces and names even if he had only met them once.
This made him a favorite in our little community. He'd go from one
house to another 'visiting' his friends, causing Mum and us on
many occasions to frantically search the neighbourhood for him.
He soon became dubbed 'the runaway computer' because of the daily
searches for him.
And right now I wished the 'memory disk' would save the right
musical notes as the twanging and off key singing got louder and
annoying.
I heard a door slam and the sound of running feet approaching.
My younger sister Bunu barged in and roared, "Shut up! It's 4 am
and I need my sleep!"
The "music" came to an abrupt halt. Junior looked up, with a
confused look.
I remembered the talk mum gave us after two sleepless nights
listening to Junior's music.
"At least, he hasn't left the house. He's concentrating on
something and it's good for his attention skills," she said.
Bunu had muttered, "Maybe he should hone in on the attention
skills big time."
Mum said kids who concentrated on music or take music lessons were
more advanced in brain development and improved memory than those
that did not.
Two weeks on and it didn't seem that this intellectual piece of
advice was being demonstrated.
The episode ended somewhat quietly as Junior cradling the guitar
in his arms, stood up and made his way to his room. All was
silent.
The next two days and nights, Junior barely left his room. He
seemed withdrawn, but we occasionally heard the tortured sounds of
his guitar strings being plucked and twanged.
On the third night Junior ventured out on to the veranda with his
guitar. This time he strummed very quietly. Mum, my sister and I
moved quietly out to him.
He quickly put his guitar away and bent his head, expecting to be
scolded for waking us up yet again.
Imagine his surprise when Mum, Bunu and I sat down next to him
with our own brand new guitars.
With a delighted laugh, he struck a cord and we all took it up.
And so, there we were. In the wee hours before dawn, strumming our
guitars and singing without a care in the world.
Anyone walking past our house at that hour would have picked out
one guitar slightly off track and one off key voice challenging
the harmony of three others.
And even if our brother is tone deaf and not music orientated, he
taught us you don't have to be a musical genius to have a good
time. In a way we also learnt how to develop our attention skills.
Well, I thought, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
 
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